Latest News

Recent News

Nikita Kucherov posted a goal and an assist in Sunday's 5-4 loss to Colorado.

He has racked up six goals and 10 points in his past 10 contests after he went through a six-game scoreless drought. The sophomore winger has 23 goals and 53 points in 62 matches this season. Feb 23 - 10:05 AM

Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov netted his 21st goal of the season in Tuesday's 3-2 overtime loss to Nashville.

Tampa Bay's "other line", made up of Kucherov, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat has been a juggernaut over the past few months and Kucherov specifically has scored in four straight contests. With 21 goals on the year he has an outside shot at his first career 30-goal campaign. Brett Connolly also buried his 10th of the season in the loss. Feb 11 - 12:04 AM

Nikita Kucherov scored a goal in Saturday's 4-2 loss to Los Angeles.

Kucherov has now scored in back-to-back games after going 13 games without a goal. Even though his production has slowed down, he is still having a solid year offensively. Kucherov has 19 goals and 46 points in 54 games. He is on pace to surpass the 70-point mark for the first time in his career. Feb 8 - 10:56 AM

He snapped the slump when he scored into an empty net to give the Lightning a 5-3 lead over Dallas. Kucherov also added an assist in the contest to give him 45 points in 53 games. He had a six-game scoring skid heading into Thursday's match as well. Feb 6 - 11:38 AM

Player News

Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov netted his 21st goal of the season in Tuesday's 3-2 overtime loss to Nashville.

Tampa Bay's "other line", made up of Kucherov, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat has been a juggernaut over the past few months and Kucherov specifically has scored in four straight contests. With 21 goals on the year he has an outside shot at his first career 30-goal campaign. Brett Connolly also buried his 10th of the season in the loss.

Kucherov has now scored in back-to-back games after going 13 games without a goal. Even though his production has slowed down, he is still having a solid year offensively. Kucherov has 19 goals and 46 points in 54 games. He is on pace to surpass the 70-point mark for the first time in his career.

He snapped the slump when he scored into an empty net to give the Lightning a 5-3 lead over Dallas. Kucherov also added an assist in the contest to give him 45 points in 53 games. He had a six-game scoring skid heading into Thursday's match as well.

He has contributed just two assists in his last seven outings as well. Kucherov has made excellent progress in his sophomore season, but he was bound to slow down at some point. Still, he probably won't be stuck in this funk much longer.

Nikita Kucherov registered two assists and four shots in Tuesday's 4-2 victory against Montreal.

He picked up a helper on both of Tyler Johnson's power-play goals in the contest. Kucherov has four assists in his past two games to give him 41 points in 42 games. The 21-year-old forward is enjoying a remarkable sophomore season. He had 18 points in 52 games last year and now he has 17 goals after 42 appearances. Kucherov is also tied for first in the league with a plus-26 rating.

Nikita Kucherov had his second three-point game of December during Tampa's 5-1 win over Buffalo on Wednesday.

Kucherov put the game away in the third with two tap-in goals from the crease, raising his season total to 17. Just three behind Steven Stamkos. His 20 assist ranks second on the team, and his 37 points third. The 21 year old from Moscow, Russia appears to be the real deal.

Nikita Kucherov picked up a goal and two assists in Tampa Bay's 4-3 victory against Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

Tampa's second line was excellent on the night, with three goals coming from Tyler Johnson and three assists being posted by Ondrej Palat. "That line hasn't really been together for a couple of weeks now, but they are finally back healthy," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "They showed what they can do, and it was pretty impressive." He has amassed 33 points in 36 games this year

Nikita Kucherov's better understanding of the English language has contributed to his successful 2014-15 campaign.

"Now that Kucherov knows the language, he's completely different," coach Jon Cooper said. "He's effective on the ice, off the ice. He's a much more confident kid because he knows the language. It does have a big part of how the kids act." He's still relatively quiet, but he is communicating better with his coaches and teammates. Kucherov has been superb on a line with Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat this campaign. He has already surpassed his offensive totals from his rookie season by recording 12 goals and 29 points just 33 games into the 2014-15 campaign.

Nikita Kucherov sprung the Bolts past Carolina with two third period goals on Thursday night, including the game winner with just 31 seconds remaining.

Kucherov now has 11 goals and 25 points in 30 games this season. It adds to a remarkable start for the sophomore, who had just 18 points in 52 games last season. Justin Faulk scored for Carolina while Evgeni Nabokov made 29 saves on 30 shots in the 2-1 victory.

He has generated two goals and two assists during his current four-game point streak. Kucherov has already surpassed his point total from his rookie season. He has nine goals, 22 points and a plus-14 rating in 26 games.

Nikita Kucherov scored the game-winning goal against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.

He has recorded four goals, including three game winners, in five career games versus the Blueshirts. Kucherov also got his his first NHL marker against the Rangers. The 21-year-old forward has already surpassed his point total from a year ago. Kucherov has racked up eight goals and 19 points in 23 games to go with a plus-10 rating and 53 shots.

Nikita Kucherov stayed hot Saturday night with two more points in the Lightning’s 4-3 win against the Capitals.

Kucherov scored an asissted, to give him nine of his 11 points in his last five games. The 21-year-old Russian is already four goals and seven points shy of his rookie total accumulated in 52 games. Ondrej Palat, Ryan Callahan and Jason Garrison (game-winner) picked up the other markers. Tyler Johnson had two assists.

Nikita Kucherov posted his first career NHL hat trick Tuesday as the Lightning upended Arizona by a score of 7-3.

Fresh off a three-point effort against the Jets on Friday, Kucherov took it a step further in this outing and is officially red-hot. Brian Boyle also buried a pair of goals in the win while Valtterri Filppula and Matt Carle scored once apiece.

Depth Charts

Steve Stamkos scored two goals in Friday's 4-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

The 25-year-old has now scored six goals and one assist in his last seven games. Stamkos is having another fine offensive season but he is under a point-per-game for the first time since his rookie season in 2008-09. He has 34 goals and 57 points in 63 games this season. He is on pace to score 44 goals in 2014-15. Brian Boyle and Ryan Callahan also scored for the Lightning.

Tyler Johnson scored one goal and two assists in Sunday's 5-4 loss to Colorado.

Johnson picked up a point in each period. He helped set up Ondrej Palat in the first period, he scored a goal of his own in the second period and he picked up the primary assist on Nikita Kucherov's third period goal. The 24-year-old now has 23 goals and 59 points in 60 games this season. He has scored 30 points in his last 30 games.

He stretched his point streak to four consecutive contests with the two-point effort. Filppula has one goal and six assists during that span. He ranks second on the Lightning with 30 helpers this year and he has 41 points in 58 games.

"I can't say enough about what Brian does for us," Cooper said. "He wins us big draws. He'll block that big shot for you. Now, we've gotten a little thin on the (defensive) corps (and) you can put him back there and he seems to make plays all over the ice for us. Coupled with the fact that the kid has played deep into the playoffs for the past few years, it's what you need." Boyle helped fill in on the back end on Sunday when Luke Witkowski missed some time. He has chipped in 12 goals and 17 points in 55 games.

Cedric Paquette appears ready to return to action Sunday as the Lightning battle the Sharks in San Jose.

He has missed the Bolts' last two games with an upper-body-injury but looks as if he is good to go Sunday. Paquette was one of the hottest Tampa players this past month skating on a line with Jonathan Drouin and Alex Killorn. With 17 points in 45 games in his rookie campaign, Paquette bears watching.

Ondrej Palat scored twice for the Lightning in their 4-2 win over the Coyotes on Saturday night.

Palat got a power-play goal in the second and one at even strength in the third period. The 23-year-old has points in three consecutive games, so he’s now posted 14 goals and 46 points this season. Ryan Callahan recorded a goal and an assist, while Steven Stamkos got a power-play goal on the empty net. Anton Stralman picked up two helpers.

Jonathan Drouin made an unbelievable pass to set up Brian Boyle with Tampa's first goal in a 4-0 win over Chicago Friday night.

It was a blind behind-the-back beauty as Drouin was just about to circle behind the Chicago net. For those of you who missed it, here is a link: http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=35&id=765493&lang=en
Drouin will be an NHL star. It's not a matter of if, but when.

Ryan Callahan scored a goal and an assist in Saturday's 4-2 win over Arizona.

He helped the Lightning improve to 3-1 on their West Coast road trip. Callahan picked up the primary assist on Ondrej Palat's goal that tied the game at one, and his goal in the second period gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead in the game. The 29-year-old has 18 goals and 43 points in 56 games this season.

JT Brown will tag in for Brenden Morrow on Friday night against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Through 37 games this season, Brown has accumulated just five points, 21 PIMs, and 31 hits. Not much fantasy value there, unfortunately. He'll skate on the fourth line to the right of Jonathan Drouin and Brian Boyle.

Victor Hedman was paired with Andrej Sustr in Friday night's pregame warm-up, and appears ready to play against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Looks like Hedman and the Lightning avoided a big scare. The linchpin defenseman ranks second on the team among defensemen with 28 points through 42 games this season. He has 32 PIMs and 77 blocks as well.

Jason Garrison will return to Tampa Bay's lineup on Tuesday against Nashville.

Garrison's expected to pair with Luke Witkowski to form their third defensive pairing as well. The veteran blue liner is enjoying a nice return to the Sunshine State with three goals and 20 points in 49 games thus far.

Anton Stralman scored a goal and an assist in Sunday's 4-3 loss to Florida.

The Panthers scored the first goal of the game but Stralman's goal at the 12:08 mark of the first period tied the game one. The 28-year-old also registered an assist on Tampa Bay's last goal (scored by Tyler Johnson). Stralman has five goals and 32 points this season. Steven Stamkos also scored for the Lightning.

He practiced with the team Thursday while wearing a no-contact jersey. Carle had surgery on an adductor muscle and he hasn't played since Jan. 15. In 46 games this season, he has four goals and 14 points.

The return for the former Philadelphia defenseman included Radko Gudas, along with a first- and third-round picks in 2015. In 39 games this season, Coburn has one goal, nine points, 56 hits and 56 blocks. He has been averaging 20:14 of ice time and will provide some depth to the Lightning back end.

Andrej Sustr has been playing with Victor Hedman during the second half of the season.

He has dressed in a career high 58 games this season and has received an increased role because of injuries to blueliners Radko Gudas and Matt Carle. The Lightning have been searching for help on the back end, which could impact his position on the depth chart. Sustr doesn't have any fantasy value, though.

He carries a salary cap hit of $3.607 million and is signed for the next three seasons, but there has been plenty of talk that his career might be over. Ohlund, who had surgery on both of his knees, hasn't played since May 27, 2011.

Ben Bishop was made a late scratched on Tuesday night against the Buffalo Sabres.

Apparently, Bishop was "dinged" during the morning skate, so Andrei Vasilevskiy will get the nod instead. Bishop however does own a shiny 31-11-3 record with a .913 save percentage and a 2.39 GAA through 49 games this season. Bear in mind he's also racked up 27 Quality Starts against seven Really Bad Starts. His RBS ranks tied for fourth-most in the league.

Andrei Vasilevskiy was given the late starts against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.

Ben Bishop was "dinged" during the morning practice, so Vasilevskiy gets the start. Through eight starts and 10 games this season, he's posted a 4-3-1 record with 22 goals against with four Quality Starts and just one Really Bad Start. Vasilevskiy played Buffalo on New Year's Eve in 2014 to the tune of a one-goal and 10-save victory.